Midwives Fight AMA to Provide Black Maternal Care

Women's eNews reports that Midwives Fight AMA to Provide Black Maternal Care.

NEW YORK (WOMENSENEWS)--Shafia Monroe's sixth annual International Black Midwives and Healers Conference, taking place in New York's Harlem neighborhood Oct. 10-12, comes in the middle of a showdown between home-birth midwives and the American Medical Association.

In June the Chicago-based physicians' group, the country's largest, promised to back state legislation that restricts licensing to nurse midwives, those who have additional nursing training and certification required to work in hospitals.

The group wants to bar licensing to certified professional midwives. These midwives assist home births and specialize in the intimate, emotional and family-focused care of mothers. They often promote vaginal births over Caesarean sections, which precede the majority of maternal deaths in the United States.